Horizontal and Vertical Attention Dynamics

Abstract

This chapter presents an empirical analysis of rises and falls in attention to environmental issues on the political agendas of four EU member states (Denmark, the Netherlands, Spain, and the United Kingdom) and show how the pattern is affected by a multilevel dynamic and an issue competition dynamic with other policy issues. European environmental policymaking is a multilevel game and thus we study and link policy agendas at the EU member state level with the European Union level. The attention to the environment, however, is also seriously affected by issue competition dynamics with other topics—especially with the economy. We conclude that political attention for environmental policies is sensitive to cyclic attention patterns, and that attention to the environment in the Netherlands and Denmark is more affected by the issue-competition dynamic, whereas in Spain and the United Kingdom more by the multilevel dynamic.